A client recently commented that for her, not a lot has changed because of the stock market, the bank decline, etc.  Because she has never really had A LOT she is not feeling as concerned or pinched as others.  She is early in her career, healthy, conservative in her spending, goal oriented and too young to have participated in the excess of the 80s.  With two small kids, second homes and lavish vacations are not the norm for her.